Some of my thoughts, WAG. Call them delusional if you like…....

Some of my thoughts, WAG. Call them delusional if you like….

Firstly, I’m of the belief that NEU will successfully consummate the partnering deal for trofinetide that it is currently working on with an unidentified US pharma.

To explain what I’m thinking, I will put it this way - NEU needs to be appropriately dressed for the partnering occasion as it will be subject to a great deal of scrutiny by “the rellies” once a partnership is announced. Sure, NEU is not American, but, ideally, it should be compatible to American tastes.

The first bit of sprucing up NEU needed was a share consolidation, which happened late last year. A sub-$1”penny dreadful” shareprice and a billion plus shares on offer won’t cut it with the Americans rellies (if a NASDAQ-listed stock closes below $1 for 30 consecutive days, the Nasdaq issues a warning and the company is delisted if it doesn’t regain compliance within 6 months). So, NEU has reinvented itself as a ~US $2 stock, one suitable to take equity in.

NEU’s BOD will also be subject to scrutiny, so the Board also needed a few changes.

Firstly, the ratio of independent to dependent directors is important. As pointed out by John Veet, there is a rule for US listed companies to have a Board with a majority of NEDs. As NEU prior to today had two EDs and one NED, that means NEU needed to add a minimum of two NEDs.

Then there’s gender balance to consider. According to the NASDAQ, "three women on the board" is corporate governance best practice. Two women is certainly preferable to none.

The size of the Board possibly also matters. To test my theory, I checked the Boards of two NASDAQ-listed, clinical-stage biotechs, Biondvax and Solid Biosciences. Biondvax has eight directors and Solid Biosciences has nine. Okay, it’s a tiny sample, but can you imagine an ASX-listed early clinical stage biotech asking its shareholders to pay for a nine-member Board?

Of course, the Board also needs to reflect quality, experience and an appropriate mix of skills. This is the experience and skills that NEU has just added to its Board:

Dianne Angus has served a decade as CEO of an ASX biotech specializing in neurodegenerative diseases and is current head of the VAMA. She is a patent and trademark attorney. She has operated her own company providing advisory services on technology due diligence, product licensing, royalty and revenue evaluations, business development & intellectual property to the biotechnology & pharmaceutical sectors.
Patrick Davies has come from EBOS Group where he was CEO of “the largest and most diversified Australasian marketer, wholesaler and distributor of healthcare, medical and pharmaceutical products.” The merged Chemmart and Terry White pharmacy groups are part of the EBOS Group. EBOS 2017 revenues were $7.6 billion.
Jenny Harry has 20 yrs experience in executive management, securing global partnerships, commercialising technologies and raising capital. She has a PhD in developmental biology from Macquarie University and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School General Manager Program.

Thoughts on timing of this announcement – the Board additions have been announced at the halfway point in the allocated 3 month exclusive negotiation period. To me, the timing seems considered. Definitely, you would want the Board in place prior to any partnership announcement.

Thoughts on size of Board – “Good grief…six directors for a hand-to-mouth biotech!” was something like what my husband muttered on hearing the news. And as soon as he had muttered those words, the penny dropped for me. The appointments today tell me that Neuren knows that it’s hand-to-mouth existence days are very soon coming to an end.